Not much is known since the early aboriginal legal system. The Proto-Malays, which translate to Melayu asli (aboriginal Malay), were the most advanced in administrative. They were led by a batin and at any time when he was incapacitated, the jinang or menteri who was under him would act on behalf. A panglima exercised authority over more than one village while a penghulu administered a single village. Some aspects of this organization or variations of it still survive to this day, for instance, the Menteri Besar heads the government in a modern Malay state while the penghulu has remained throughout the millennia a key figure in local rural administration. It is clear that the prehistoric colonists had brought their own customary laws. Equally …show more content…
Tradition required the Sultan to consult those under his authority. The Sultan and his Ministers had complementary functions, such as, the Sultan is required to fulfil the scared and the spiritual while his Ministers has to administer the mundane. The bendahara, who combined the offices of the modern prime minister, chief justice, and commander-in-chief of the army, was the most important minister. Next, was the temenggung, who was the chief of police and chief magistrate. Following him was the laksamana, the admiral of the fleet. These were the most well-known officials of the realm. Besides that, there were also other officials, which three deserve to be mention. First, the penghulu bendahari or chief secretary of the bendahara and treasurer. Second, there was the shahbandar or harbour master. Since there are four main groups of traders which came from China and the Far East, Java and the Malay Archipelago, west India and also from the south-east India, hence, there were four shahbandar that attended to this group of traders. And last but not least, there was the mandulika or governor of an isolated outpost, who exercised civil and criminal …show more content…
For example, earlier versions of the Undang-undang Melaka set out the adat law whereas later versions show a mixture of adat law and principles of the Syariah. The influence of Syariah law is evident, particularly in the provision of an alternative to the penalties under the adat law for every offence. This alternative gave the Sultan the discretion to impose the penalty deemed appropriate, as policy or prejudice dictated. The Malay adat law with Hindu-Buddhist relics and overlaid with Syariah principles that are contained in the later versions of the Undang-undang Melaka was the model for the Malay digests in the later Malay